Mary Tudor was the only child born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive childhood. Had she been born a boy, it is likely that the whole of English history would have been different (but probably less interesting!).
Mary had a good childhood as a young princess, and was the center of court attention in her earliest years. But, as the years progressed and no little brothers followed, Mary’s father began to look into the alternatives. Eventually, Henry sought an annulment from Catherine, and married his second Queen: Anne Boleyn. Mary was declared illegitimate and was to no longer be called “princess”, but rather “The Lady Mary”.
When Anne Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth, Mary was sent to attend the new young Princess in her household. Soon Elizabeth would be declared a bastard as well, since her mother also failed to produce a male heir for Henry.
Shortly after the death of Anne Boleyn, Henry wed Jane Seymour, who sought to reconcile the King with his two daughters. Henry and Jane visited Mary and after, she wrote letters to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (her cousin) and the Pope stating that her parent’s marriage had not been valid. [Mary was able to get an additional message to them, in secret, saying that she wrote the letters under duress.] After that, she returned to court, although her title of Princess still had not been restored.
In October 1537, Queen Jane gave birth to Edward, Henry’s longed for son and Mary stood as the young Prince’s godmother at the christening. The court was soon plunged into mourning as Jane died two weeks after Edward’s birth.
In January 1540, Mary gained yet another stepmother: Anne of Cleves. Although they shared different religions (Mary was Catholic, Anne a Lutheran), the two women became fast friends and would remain so until Anne’s death in 1557. Unfortunately Anne’s marriage to Henry wasn’t so long-lived and she was divorced in July of the same year.
Shortly after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves,Henry took another wife [now his 5th], Kathryn Howard. Kathryn was probably 18 years old, making Mary six years older than her new stepmother. Mary was apparently appalled at her father’s action and there were come quarrels between Mary and Kathryn during the young Queen’s reign. That reign turned out to be all too short, as she was arrested, tried and executed for adultery in 1542.
At this time of emotional upheaval, Mary fell seriously ill and may have been in danger of losing her life. Her father was concerned enough to send his own doctors to look after her.
Henry’s last Queen was Katherine Parr, who was about four years older than Mary. They were married in 1543, and she survived Henry at his death in 1547. All three of Henry’s children attended the wedding at Hampton Court. Mary was friends with her last stepmother, although they too had religious differences, as Katherine was a strong supporter of the Reformed Church.
When Henry VIII began to fall ill, he drafted his will declaring that Edward would be his heir and Mary was to follow him if the young Prince were to die childless. Elizabeth was also included, and she would take the throne if Mary were to die without an heir. As we know in hindsight, this is exactly what was to happen.
MARY IN EDWARD VI’S REIGN
Henry VIII died January 28, 1547, leaving his 9 year-old son as King. The young Edward was a supporter of the Protestant faith, although Mary seems to have hoped at one point he would see the error of his ways and return England to the Church of Rome.
Alas, this was not to be. She defied Edward’s Act of Uniformity and openly celebrated Mass, which had been abolished. Edward and Mary struggled with this issue through the rest of the King’s short reign.
Some time in 1552, Edward began to show signs of the illness that would eventually claim his life. He was reported to have a hacking cough that eventually resulted in him spitting up blood and tissue. Medical historians generally agree that he had tuberculosis.
Fearing Mary would return the country to the Catholic faith, powerful men in the realm, such as John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk began to make their plans. Although they made moves to court Mary’s favor, they worked secretly with their own agenda. Northumberland married his son Guildford to Suffolk’s daughter Jane Grey, who would be in line for the throne after Mary and Elizabeth. By placing Jane on the throne in Edward’s wake, they thought they would have a puppet they could control [although Jane seems to have had other ideas about that!].
Northumberland put his plans into action and convinced Edward to leave his crown to his cousin Jane.
MARY AND ‘THE NINE DAYS QUEEN’
Mary realized that a plot was being hatched to place Jane on the throne. She had been urged by some friends to flee the country since they feared her life would be in danger. Mary knew that if she fled, she would forfeit all chances of becoming Queen and returning England to Catholicism, so she chose to remain and make a stand for her crown.
Edward died on July 6, 1553. Shortly afterwards, Northumberland informed Jane at Syon house that Edward had left the crown to her and that she was now Queen of England. Mary, meanwhile, was in East Anglia. Northumberland and three of his sons went to take Mary into custody. Mary was at this time moving around with a growing army of supporters. She knew that he must have confirmation of her brother’s death, because it would be treason to declare herself Queen otherwise. She received news from a reliable source that Edward was indeed dead, and promptly sent proclamations throughout the country announcing her accession to the throne.
Mary went to Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, which was better fortified. Her number of supporters was increasing and Mary took time to inspect her troops personally. The people of Suffolk were flocking to Mary and many of the leaders who were supposed to take her into custody instead went and begged for her pardon.
By this time, the Privy Council in London realized their error in going along with Northumberland’s plot and declared Mary the true Queen of England. She left Framlingham for London on July 24.
Of the conspirators who tried to place Jane on the throne, only a few were initially executed, including the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley. Jane and Guildford were found guilty of treason, but Mary refused to execute them. Guildford’s brothers, the other three sons of John Dudley, were kept in the Tower, but not killed. The Duke of Suffolk (Henry Grey), Jane Grey’s father, was released.
As Mary approached the outskirts of London, she was met by her sister Elizabeth, who offered her congratulations and rode in a place of honor with the new Queen. When Mary made her formal entry into London on the 30th of September, Elizabeth and the surviving wife of Henry VIII, Anne of Cleves, rode in a chariot behind the Queen’s in the great procession.
On the morning of October 1, Mary made the short walk from Westminster Palace to Westminster Abbey across the street for her coronation. It was nearly 5 o’clock before the ceremony was finished and the court made it’s way back to Westminster Palace for the banquet in the Great Hall.
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Parliament met four days after the coronation and in the second session (three days later), Mary began to introduce the legislations that she had long hoped for. First, there was an act proclaiming Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon valid and legal. This act passed with little resistance. However, the other main act was to repeal all the religious laws passed in the reign of Edward VI, and this didn’t pass as easily.
The next step for Mary was to begin searching for a suitable husband. One of the possibilities was Edward Courtenay, who had spent most of his life in the Tower. He was younger than Mary, but he was one of the last descendants of the House of York and one of the most obvious choices for a husband. One of Courtrenay’s greatest attractions in the view of the people was that he was an Englishman, not a foreign Prince.
However, the Emperor Charles V (Mary’s cousin), who had been an instrumental advisor to the English Queen, had other idea and was already making plans to suggest his son, Prince Philip of Spain as Mary’s best choice of husband. The ambassador formally suggested this to the Queen a short time after her coronation. After much thought and prayer on the matter, Mary accepted the proposal. Negotiations of the contract began, although the public sentiment was not in favor of the match.
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During this time, plots were being hatched to depose Mary and place Elizabeth and Edward Courtenay on the throne. It turns out that there were a total of four plots at hand. One involved Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (son of the poet Thomas Wyatt, a courtly suitor of Anne Boleyn) and the Duke of Suffolk, Henry Grey (already released from the Tower after his involvement with the Northumberland plot) who would lead rebel armies from various parts of England. Wyatt’s army reached London, but the rebellion was put down at the city gates. He and his fellow conspirators were arrested.
Mary realized the mistake she had made before in her lenient treatment of Northumberland’s rebels, and vowed not to make it again. In all, roughly 100 rebels were hung, although the Queen pardoned 400 others. Lady Jane Grey and her husband would also have to be put to death now, as they may be the possible focal point for another rebellion. Edward Courtenay was put back in the Tower where he had spent much of his life. Elizabeth had been summoned to London for questioning and was eventually imprisoned in the Tower as well, although she was later sent to Woodstock.
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In March, 1554, Mary acted in a proxy betrothal, with the Count of Egmont standing in for Prince Philip. He eventually set sail for England on July 12, arriving at the Isle of Wight a week later. On July 23, he arrived at Winchester where he would meet his bride for the first time. It is not known exactly what language they used to converse (quite possibly Latin), but Philip and Mary talked into the evening and by all appearances seemed to be getting along well.
The marriage took place two days after their meeting, on July 25th, the day of St. James- patron saint of Spain. After the wedding, they were proclaimed:
Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France and Naples, Jerusalem and Ireland, defenders of the faith, Princes of Spain and Sicily, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and the Tyrol.
After dancing and dinner, the couple was put to bed in accordance with the ancient blessing ritual.
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In September, one of the Queen’s physicians announced that she was pregnant. In fact, she did seem to show many of the signs including nausea and an enlarging belly.
Meanwhile, Mary began to act on her intention to restoring the Catholic faith in England. The nobles were allowed to keep the lands gained in the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, but the Queen encouraged returning former Church property (mainly furniture and plate) and set an example by doing so herself. The medieval heresy laws were restored by Parliament, which meant that heretics could be killed and their property and holdings given over to the Crown.
In January 1555, the arrests began. John Hooper (former Bishop of Gloucester), John Rogers and John Cardmaster were arrested after they refused to cease their heretical activities and put on trial. All three were condemned to be burnt at the stake, with Rogers the first to die.
Instead of deterring the Protestants, the burnings mainly served to increase their hatred of the Queen. In all about 275 people died and were later included in John Foxe‘s Acts and Monuments of the English Martyrs. It was because of these burnings that the Queen gained the epitaph “Bloody Mary”.
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As Mary’s pregnancy progressed, Philip began to make plans for the succession if the Queen were to die in childbirth, a relatively common occurrence in Tudor England. Mary would most likely want to exclude Elizabeth from the throne, which meant that the crown would then fall to Mary Queen of Scots, who was about to marry the son of the King of France and was unacceptable for Spanish interests. Philip suggested marrying Elizabeth to a Catholic (and ally of the Holy Roman Emperor): Philibert, Duke of Savoy.
Mary had refused to allow Philip and Elizabeth to meet, but in April when the Court moved to Hampton Court Palace Elizabeth was brought there as well (she had still been at Woodstock until then). She had few visitors and had not been granted an audience with the Queen, since she was still in disgrace. However, one evening the Queen sent over a rich dress to Elizabeth with the message that she was to wear it that evening. She met the King and was later brought into see the Queen. Foxe records that Philip was hiding behind a tapestry during the interview. At the end, Mary agreed to welcome Elizabeth at court.
Mary had retreated into privacy awaiting the birth of her child, as was customary. She waited for the labor pains to begin, but her due date came and went without the birth of a child. The doctors predicted the child would come on June 6, then June 24, and then finally July 3… but none came to pass.
It is thought that Mary did in fact suffer what is called a ‘phantom pregnancy’ arising from her great wish to have a child. She may have actually been pregnant at some point, but miscarried, or the child died and was not properly expelled. Whatever the case, it became quite clear that the Queen was not going to give birth, since it was now nearly a year after she was first reported to be with child.
After a while, Mary began to receive again and the signs of her “pregnancy” disappeared. The subject was not brought up in the Queen’s presence.
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In August, Philip left England to conduct business for Spain in the Netherlands. The Queen was overcome with sadness at his departure and wrote to him almost daily.
Meanwhile, the trials and burnings continued. Hugh Latimer (former Bishop of Worcester) and Nicholas Ridley (former Bishop of London) were condemned and burnt at the stake in October 1555. In March 1556, Thomas Cranmer (former Archbishop of Canterbury) followed, thrusting his right hand into the fire first because it had signed his earlier recantation of the Protestant faith.
Philip eventually returned to England in March 1557. Shortly afterwards, England declared war on France following a raid on Scarborough, England by Thomas Stafford, who had been in exile in France. The French King Henry II denied initiating the raid.
Philip led forces into France and took the town of St. Quentin and surrounding lands. But France struck back and took the city of Calais, the last foothold of England on the Continent. It had been in English hands since 1347.
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With this loss came some good news, however. The Queen was sure she was pregnant again, now at the age of 42. She entered seclusion in late February 1558, thinking her confinement for labor would come in March. Those around her seemed to have doubts about the validity of this pregnancy after the earlier incident.
On March 30, Mary drafted her will and it is worded in such a way to portray that the Queen thought she was indeed with child. But, by April, no child had come and the Queen knew that she was once again mistaken. After the symptoms began to fade, Mary was left quite ill. From then on, she became progressively worse. In late October, she added the codicil to her will but did not expressly name Elizabeth as her heir in it.
The Queen drifted in and out of consciousness, but at one point was lucid enough to agree to pass the crown to her half sister, adding that she hoped Elizabeth would maintain the Catholic faith in England. It was around this time that Philip learned of the death of both his father and his aunt.
On November 16, 1558, Mary’s will was read aloud keeping with custom. She was lucid during the Mass held in her chamber the next morning. The priest performed the Last Rites, and the Queen died.
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Elizabeth gave her sister a royal funeral and she was interred in Westminster Abbey in the chapel built by her grandfather, Henry VII. During the reign of Elizabeth, Mary’s tomb became buried under piles of stones from broken altars. When Elizabeth herself died, James I built a magnificent tomb for both sisters (although only Elizabeth’s figure is on it). A plaque on the marble reads — translated from the Latin —
Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection.
OMAHUNG WORLD 